Thursday, 4 June 2015

Rest in Peace Maddie (1997-2015)

Eve here - today I would like to write about Maddie Heath.

She's dead and I'm going to miss her so much. She was only 18 when she died although perhaps "died" isn't quite the correct word to use. You see Maddie wasn't ever really alive because she was a character in the long-running programme "Coronation Street".

Maddie was so like me and so like many of my friends (especially Nicola, RIP) that it was quite spooky watching her. Maddie had loads of emotional baggage - her younger brother was in foster care, her Mother had mental health problems and Maddie herself had been living rough for several years when she was first introduced to the viewers in December 2013.

Maddie was a feisty girl - a survivor - a lesbian - and somebody who found sadness much easier to cope with than happiness. Without thinking too hard I could list a dozen of my friends who would share at least 3 if not all 4 of these character traits.

When you have nobody on your side, when society at large doesn't care about you, when family life is just something that happens for other people you have to make your own way. If you don't you sink.

Maddie was a supreme example of what I call "Care Home Kids" and it is a beep beep shame that she has been written out of the series.